2014 Australian Open Championship...Melbourne, Austalia

[worldsbesttenniscoach]

Nadal has learned to use injury timeouts as a form of gamesmanship. And the way Rafe acts, every time he loses is due to an injury or off day, rather than to the opponent being better. hmmmmm.

In the final, for a while, Wawrinka was throwing away points, allowing Nadal back into the match. Stan had to yell at himself, wake up, & reduce his errors in order to win.

[don_budge]

Nadal's back injury...

Making news with his back injury. Milking it for all it is worth.

http://edition.cnn.com/2014/02/06/sport/tennis/tennis-rafa-nadal-buenos-aires/index.html?hpt=hp_bn2

[GeoffWilliams]

Finally the difference between Stanimal and fed's back hand are truly exposed on a faster court surface. How many cross court winners did The animal hit to Nadal's fh anyway? He stays grounded, and the hitting foot stays down and derives great power and coil, unlike Fed, who has always lifted his hitting foot off bh side, degrounding him, taking away consistent power, and shows a real lack of confidence, which Nadal turns into routs. Nadal knew he could not do that to the animal, and he started to quit. Blamed it all on his back. Yet, there were many points he looked normal. EVery the psych queen.



When he improved his forehand, to be able to go either cc or dtl, along with the bh, he began to rise about 18 months ago. The light went on. His serve is also deadlier, a real issue, about the ability to improve at this game, jump a whole new level up, at the advanced age of 29. Inspirational. He can win Wimbledon is he steps up his volley approach game, dtl off both sides, and makes more first serves.

That's been my reason for coming onto this site, to be able to learn and improve greatly, my fh and my serve. He's my new favorite player due to this inspiring improvement!

[DougEng]

Huge congratulations to the champion of the 2014 Australian Championships. He won the thing fair and square. He also deserves a reward for maintaining his composure when he won. Nadal deserved a punch in the kisser...much less a handshake...and a hug. Wawrinka should have given him the cold shoulder...but that would have been bucking the system and nobody wants to do that...do they? Stanislaw maintained his composure and exercised "tennis etiquette"...that lost facet of the tennis world. A thing of the past. The one thing that we can rightfully lament. The passing of great tradition. Higher thought. The best that Man had to offer. This is evolution? Think again. Devolution more likely.

I'm glad he beat Djokovic who shared some histrionics of his own with us in the semifinals. Andy Murray couldn't resist the sympathy grimaces as well when he went down to Roger Federer in the quarterfinals. Sadly...Roger was beaten before he even took to the court against Fafa. Mental issues. He took to the court without an actual game plan...is that possible? It certainly looked like it.

Stanislaw was the most impressive "MAN" throughout the fortnight. He just so happened to be the only player "that was a MAN about it" as my old friend Leon once suggested to me. "Be a man about it Steve"...he said to me. You know what? He was absolutely right.

Stanislaw Wawrinka was the only player to deserve the win the 2014 Australian Open Championships. I never saw him blink in the face of the "new tennis nobility". It is too bad that the "Big Four" revealed themselves for what they are. It undermined the true grit of the champion. All of their petty little ego issues undermined the performance of "The Man". Stan the Man.

It was overall...a bizarre tournament. The court surface and the quicker balls were largely overlooked and glossed over by all of the accounts that I have read. The effect on the play was telling and many of the sharks looked to be slightly out of water. Not in their preferred element as it was. Nadal started whimpering about the conditions before play had even begun and his exit was a total sham. It doesn't even matter if he was injured or not...it was how he played it that did matter. He played it for all that it was worth...that's for certain. It made us even forget his terrible blister for a moment. What a gladiator! He's whimpering all of the way to the bank...as I type.

Yes, I noticed the court surface, quicker balls and heat since I was there and watched many matches. It amounted to many short rallies and matches as players had an abnormal number of short points and mishits (seen some balls go over the fences into the next court). I have never seen so many mishits and balls sent into orbit. Not the best quality tennis for what the players were capable of. It was easier the last few days with cooler weather and remaining players finally getting used to the speed.

[bottle]

About the message on the Stanimal's left forearm (evidence that he has a mind and a first-rate one at that):

I've tried to live it rather than join all the forums about how better to sell oneself.

Or, as we a group of intellectual deadbeats swept up by a Beltway Bandit used to say while working for Career Consultants Inc. of Charlottesville, Virginia, "He who hollers down a well/about the goods he has to sell/will never reap the golden dollars/of him who shows them round and hollers."

That is true, but HE is also apt to have grown into a complete schmuck constantly congratulating himself on his "delightful irreverence" thinking that he is a William Buckley Jr. spin-off, never understanding that Buckley himself was never quite as delightful as his son Christopher thinks.

Or is apt to have grown into a Fred Thompson, former politician still in thrall to the sleeping Ronald Reagan. I'll take RR Jr. any time-- that guy is awake. Fred sells reverse mortgages on TV as former Redskin Joe Theismann talks all the time about getting up in the middle of the night to have to pee. (But that is a good time to sit down at one's desk.)

Man, I've never liked tattoos, but if you are going to have one, this is the one to have. Because it works. Eureka. Wawrinka!

[julian1]

Nothing revolutionary

I did read it. And...?

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

Nothing revolutionary
Berdych mentioned ONLY once.
The author of the article to be fired.
Kvetova ans Stepanek not mentioned.
Switching gears:
please see my post

http://www.tennisplayer.net/bulletin/showthread.php?t=2555

It maybe interesting for you from a coaching point of view

[don_budge]

The Wawrinka Tatoo...

Wawrinka has a tattoo on his left forearm...a quote by Irish playwright Samuel Beckett. It reads: ‘Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try Again. Fail again. Fail better.’

Talk about wearing your heart on your sleeve! Sounds like something bottle would say.

[klacr]

Please see the today's issue of New York Times (by Greg Bishop)

I did read it. And...?

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

[don_budge]

Congratulations to Stanislas Wawrinka...

Huge congratulations to the champion of the 2014 Australian Championships. He won the thing fair and square. He also deserves a reward for maintaining his composure when he won. Nadal deserved a punch in the kisser...much less a handshake...and a hug. Wawrinka should have given him the cold shoulder...but that would have been bucking the system and nobody wants to do that...do they? Stanislas maintained his composure and exercised "tennis etiquette"...that lost facet of the tennis world. A thing of the past. The one thing that we can rightfully lament. The passing of great tradition. Higher thought. The best that Man had to offer. This is evolution? Think again. Devolution more likely.

I'm glad he beat Djokovic who shared some histrionics of his own with us in the semifinals. Andy Murray couldn't resist the sympathy grimaces as well when he went down to Roger Federer in the quarterfinals. Sadly...Roger was beaten before he even took to the court against Fafa. Mental issues. He took to the court without an actual game plan...is that possible? It certainly looked like it.

Stanislas was the most impressive "MAN" throughout the fortnight. He just so happened to be the only player "that was a MAN about it" as my old friend Leon once suggested to me. "Be a man about it Steve"...he said to me. You know what? He was absolutely right.

Stanislas Wawrinka was the only player to deserve the win the 2014 Australian Open Championships. I never saw him blink in the face of the "new tennis nobility". It is too bad that the "Big Four" revealed themselves for what they are. It undermined the true grit of the champion. All of their petty little ego issues undermined the performance of "The Man". Stan the Man.

It was overall...a bizarre tournament. The court surface and the quicker balls were largely overlooked and glossed over by all of the accounts that I have read. The effect on the play was telling and many of the sharks looked to be slightly out of water. Not in their preferred element as it was. Nadal started whimpering about the conditions before play had even begun and his exit was a total sham. It doesn't even matter if he was injured or not...it was how he played it that did matter. He played it for all that it was worth...that's for certain. It made us even forget his terrible blister for a moment. What a gladiator! He's whimpering all of the way to the bank...as I type.

[don_budge]

Fafa Nadal...

Please see the today's issue of New York Times (by Greg Bishop)

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/27/sp...lian-open.html

Let me put it another way...a slightly different tact from that of Greg Bishop...and the rest.

That was one disgusting display by Fafa Phooey Nadal. I have never witnessed a worse performance of sportsmanship in all of my life when it comes to the sport of tennis. He has disgraced himself and the tennis world in general.

He robbed Stanislas Wawrinka of his rightful crown. He stole Stanislaw Wawrinka's thunder. What he richly deserved was reduced to a bullshit conversation about whether or not Nadal was fit to play. Utter bullshit and a fitting ending to the 2014 Australian Championships. I stand by everything that I wrote...every thought that I thought.

The championships that revealed to the world what the reality of the sport has been reduced to.

I wrote this in the heat of the moment during the match watching this disgraceful performance for which he was roundly booed by the live audience...

How convenient to take a break...Nadal is a cheater and a jerk. If he cannot make it through the match without a doctor...retire. Pure and simple.

But now his excuse is in place. His speech already written. If he loses he will cite his injuries. I hope that he wins so that the tennis world will see what a psyche artist this pretender...this usurper is.

Then he comes out without his shirt...this is another thing about this hot dog. The strip tease act. He thinks he is cute. BIG TIME WRESTLING!

Now it looks as if he won't try...he may just quit. Who knows what is going through his mind. He is denying Wawrinka his moment. Shameful behavior. Disgusting. He can disappear for another seven months...I, for one, won't miss him.

[julian1]

Future of Wawrinka

Glorious Glorious Glorious.

New Blood.

What a match by Stan. Some detractors will say Nadal was injured and that may be the case, but Stan still had to execute, and he did. I'm a bit old school in the thought that if you step on the court, and continue to play, you are 100%. There is a difference between being hurt and being injured. If you are hurt, you can continue to play. If you are injured, stop playing. But I digress.

Credit to Stan. Before Nadal had his back issue, Stan legitimately competed and won the first set, simply playing better than Nadal. How do you beat a guy that runs everything down and gets everything back? Play every ball and every point on your terms and hope you redline. Stanislas Wawrinka did that today.
Some of his ground strokes were just unreal and Rafa knew it was gonna be a long day, healthy or injured. Stan lost his focus a bit in that 3rd set with Nadal playing wounded warrior. Just when you thought Nadal was going to pull off the impossible and make a comeback, Stan held his ground. Breaks of serve traded in that 4th set set Stan up for a serve for the championship. He cruised through that game and became Australian Open Champ. A man with a one-handed backhand, a chip return and an ability to play the net if he so chooses. He exercised many demons when he beat Djokovic. Once you Climb Everest or K2, Mt. McKinley (Denali) doesn't seem so tough. Credit to Wawrinka and major credit to his coach who taught Stan something bigger than x's and o's, he taught him BELIEF in himself. A lesson all coaches can give to their students.

On a side note and an obligatory Tberd mention, Berdych has lost to the eventual Aussie Open Chamion in 3 of the last 4 years. The one he did not was 2012 when he lost to Nadal, who lost to Djokovic in that epic 5 setter. Just some food for thought. Perghaps a consolation trophy for Berdych? Thye title goes through Berdych.
Grasping for straws I know

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

Please see the today's issue of New York Times (by Greg Bishop)

[GeoffWilliams]

A one slam wonder. More than I have! Congrats, and glad to see the drug cheater beaten.

[klacr]

I only caught up with the final today. The first set was great. I thought Nadal looked mentally subdued from the outset and it's likely the niggle was playing on his mind. The rest of the match wasn't worth watching. It was a shame, shame for the fans, sponsors, ticket holders, folk watching on TV, sponsors, tournament organisers...not to mention both players. Lots of people get affected. It's no one's fault. It's just unlucky it happened on finals day.

Just bad luck.

But gotta make the most out of it. Certainly wasn't Wawrinka's fault Nadal hurt his back. After beating 4 time champ Djokovic, Stan was certainly worthy of earning a grand slam title. Stan had a very subdued reaction after championship point as he knew it wasn't supposed to be awkward. Stan played well enough to make it to the finals and the fact he got himself into a position of opportunity, anything can happen. And it Did.
Stanislas Wawrinka 2014 Australian Open Champion.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

[stotty]

I only caught up with the final today. The first set was great. I thought Nadal looked mentally subdued from the outset and it's likely the niggle was playing on his mind. The rest of the match wasn't worth watching. It was a shame, shame for the fans, sponsors, ticket holders, folk watching on TV, sponsors, tournament organisers...not to mention both players. Lots of people get affected. It's no one's fault. It's just unlucky it happened on finals day.

[bottle]

The Stanimal's nose looked a bit red, but his chair wouldn't fold.